Merry Christmas, Baby Blakely!

12/27/11 

            Well in the worry of my car being on the fritz, Josh and I decided it best to try to figure out some new options.  Since we can both walk to work, we really only need one car between the two of us.  The plan when we got married was to only have one car.  However, 6 months before our wedding I was the victim of a hit and run which totaled my car.  There was no good solution to me needing a car for my last 6 months in Durham other than buying a new one.  I had always wanted a hybrid and found a used Honda Civic Hybrid within my price point.  I paid in full for it, and must admit I am sad to see it go.  What a great little car.  I was averaging around 45 miles per gallon with Sid the Civic!  It was the perfect option for us to take on smaller trips to Richmond and Lynchburg rather than wasting the gas in the Jeep if we didn’t need the extra room that the Jeep provided.

            So the plan was to drive both of our cars to Culpeper (where one of Josh’s best friends works and his parents own the dealership.  Check them out here: http://www.chryslerofculpeper.com/) on Friday the 23^rd since we both had off from work.  I would trade mine in, and we planned on test-driving some new cars.  If we found one we liked, we decided we’d trade in Josh’s Jeep as well and purchase one new vehicle.  If not, we’d come back with the Jeep.  Good thing about keeping the Jeep is we will have it paid off in about one year.  Bad thing about keeping the Jeep is it gets not so great gas mileage.  So off we went.

            We test drove a Chrysler 200, a Jeep Compass, a Dodge Caliber and a Dodge Journey.  We liked them all but the Journey was the clear stand out!  After some discussion about which of the three they had on the lot would work out best (price, features, etc.) we decided on a black 2012 Journey.  Just a little early Christmas present to ourselves, I suppose!  It has a ton of features: auto-start, satellite radio, tons of storage, an optional 3^rd row of seating, Bluetooth capabilities, these fun lights on the bottom of the doors so when you open your door at night you can see the ground where you are stepping out, a super keyless entry that as long as we have our key somewhere on us, all we have to do is put our hand on the door handle and it automatically opens, and lots lots more.  AND, it gets about 31 mpg on the highway!  We LOVE it!  It’s a great little SUV.  So everyone, I’d like you to meet Jared the Journey! 

            The next day we took Jared on a trip to Shoney’s for Christmas Eve breakfast—a Blakely family tradition that Josh and I keep alive since we typically aren’t with his parents and brothers on Christmas Eve because of my job.  Christmas Eve services at church went well.  It’s always fun watching the kids participate in the Spontaneous Christmas Pageant, and the candlelight service was beautiful.  We came home, got in our new PJs (a tradition we decided to start this year) and watched a quick Christmas movie on TV. Then Josh read The Night Before Christmas and we headed to bed! 

After a rough night’s sleep on my end (one of my newer symptoms of pregnancy is having to pee all the time) Josh woke up around 6:30am and decided (like a little boy) that we needed to go ahead and get up since it was Christmas morning after all!  While the oven preheated for the cinnamon buns, we opened up our stockings.  Then we opened a few presents while the cinnamon buns cooked, ate breakfast, then finished up presents.  What a wonderful husband I have!  He is always listening and taking note of things I mention would be nice to have.  I got a food processor, a new memory card for my camera, a video camera with case, memory card and tripod!, a purse hanger, some yummy chocolates, cozy socks and a beautiful bamboo cookbook holder (I’m probably missing some things).  I got him two new sweaters, a few new games, a “how to draw Disney characters” book with two drawing pads, and a year’s worth of pre-paid, pre-planned dates for us to go on!  Those were packaged in 12 envelopes; one date per month, and mostly consisted of things we haven’t done before (Richmond Zoo, Spy Museum, Lion King on broadway, etc.)  They are a mixture of at-home and going out dates.  I’m really excited about them.  It gives us something to look forward to each month and ensures that we actually do something neat together since it’s already paid for.  We can’t get to the month and say “oh well, we don’t really have the money for that right now.”  And it’s a gift that will last us all year long!  So, I’ll be blogging about our dates throughout the year as well!

After presents we got ready for church, packed and headed to our one worship service for the day.  After church we ate lunch at home (leftover taco fixings from the day before) and got on the road to Josh’s parents’ house.  We had a yummy Christmas dinner there and opened presents with his parents and brothers.  We’ve had a wonderful visit: playing games, looking at Christmas lights, taking family photos (BB’s first family photo…unbeknownst to anyone else), eating yummy food, and just spending time together.  We leave tomorrow morning to head to Richmond to celebrate with my side of the family.  It will be a whirlwind tour of Virginia before we get back to Farmville!  Jared is providing a smooth ride, though!